


Love Me, Date Me, it's in My Code -- Joel's route

by Amari



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dating Sim AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amari/pseuds/Amari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bored of normal games, Ray tries out a dating sim to feed his gaming needs. Surprised at how invested he is, he continues to play. However, being this invested may lead to unintended consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Me, Date Me, it's in My Code -- Joel's route

Ray was bored of his typical games. He was bored of the overused first person shooter. He was bored of the action-adventures. He was tired with platformers. He was tired of it all.  Now in his later college years, he didn’t exactly have the time to play them, but he had time enough to be exhausted with his expansive collection.

“No. Nope. Nah. Not my thing. No.” Were the only words coming out of the tired Puerto-Rican’s mouth as he scrolled endlessly through different video game sites. Steam didn’t have anything interesting, his favorite youtubers weren’t playing anything he considered new and innovative. Everything seemed the same. A clone of what’s come before. The drool was beginning to pool on his chin as the games scrolled on and on.

A title caught his eye and he stopped scrolling. “Love me. Date Me. 2: New Dreams for the World.”

Ray erupted in laughter. The title itself sounded ridiculous, the game couldn’t have been much better. So of course, since something gained his attention, he decided to spend a little more on it by clicking the title name. This brought him to a description of the game. It was a dating sim released in America the month prior for the Gamestation Bita. The cover featured a black-haired boy with black framed glasses and a red hoodie looking confused in the middle. He was surrounded by overarching silhouettes of what he assumed were other characters. Since it was a dating-sim, more than likely they were the the love interests.

Moya Ritou is the new kid at Burn College of the Arts. Entering freshman and separated for the first time from his parents and friends that have all gone their own ways, he’s about to experience what it’s like to meet new people and fall in love. Meet 8 other people, befriend them or make them your enemy, all you have to do is watch your words.

The summary was poor, like it assumed people would just understand the concept of the game. And honestly, Ray had an idea. He had seen dating sims before, and they don’t really seem to differ between them. All have text boxes, some have voice acting, some have hilarious mistranslations, character art, extra bonus scenes and a plethora of people to choose from. All the characters would fall hard into a trope, but the player would eat up every aspect of it anyway.

There were screenshots at the bottom of the page. They had some of the background art. Environments were pretty standard, classrooms, various art studios, science labs, and of course, a bedroom. But what caught his eye were the shots of two of the love interests. They were both men. Ray wasn’t surprised that this was of the “boy’s love” genre, what actually made him raise his eyebrows was how pretty the men were. There was something about anime that usually turned Ray away, but the art was absolutely incredible with the two gentlemen shown. They weren’t just ‘pretty boys,’ there was something distinct and personal about the two of them that made them stand out from other anime otomes. Something about that distinction was deciding factor in Ray actually buying the game.

The game came in two weeks later, in nice pristine packaging. He tore it open without remorse and popped the game card in. The game went through the usual start up motions. The publisher and developers, copyright bullshit and eventually ending on the title screen. Like most games, the title screen resembled the cover in that to the left of the screen stood the main character. To each side of the character were three silhouettes against different colored highlights, making six potential suitors in all. Ray clicked the “New Game” option.

Of course, with most dating-sim type games, he was instantly thrust into some over the top anime sequence made from cut-outs of the in-game illustrations. With all the rapid movements, he couldn’t get a good look at the suitors, but they all seemed to be far too pretty to be human. Ray didn’t spot any animal features on any of them, so he had to assume that they were human regardless. The song ended on a strong guitar note, and the screen blackened and opened to an empty looking generic dorm room.

The intros were the worst part of dating sims, even with little experience in the genre, Ray knew this to be true. They were long, but completely necessary in establishing everything about the game. InLove Me, Date Me (LMDM), the story was about a new kid in college. The still nameless protagonist’s parents were helping him unpack and his roommate had yet to appear. The text ran through his inner bits of nervousness between parents telling him vaguely where to put things. Once the room was full of his stuff, his parents were in a strange rush to leave, they kissed and hugged him goodbye according to the text and left the kid alone in the room. Ray sighed, knowing the feeling of loss the kid currently felt. His parents had pretty much done the same thing to him his freshman year of college.

The protagonist, sat on an unmade bed and let it all sink in. He’s actually in college now. And he’s alone. None of his friends had followed him to the same college. God, he couldn’t remember the last time he actually made a new friend that wasn’t online. He was probably rusty at it.

Ray knew that feeling. It wasn’t normal for him to get attached to a character so quickly, but he connected to this lost kid.

In game, after a few paragraphs describing his background and picking the college that he did, a new voice popped on the screen.

“Hello?” another male voice said. His image wasn’t on the screen yet. “Hello? I need a little help with a box.” The protagonist eagerly helped the other man.

Once the box was set down the other man’s image appeared. He had a big goofy grin, and was a little bit shorter than the protagonist. Sand-colored hair adorned his head that was just long enough to fall into his eyes. His clothes were as casual as the Protagonist’s. A navy blue t-shirt and jeans. He appeared to be a little chubby as well.

“Thanks for helping me. I’m your new roommate, Kerry.” He said, his picture changing to a calmer smile, “You’re… uh… shit… what’s your name again?”

The question prompted a screen that asked Ray what his character’s name was. The website had given him something terribly stupid sounding, and he grimaced at the thought of playing as “Moya.” Since the character reminded Ray of himself, he entered his own name.

“Ray? Hunh? Yeah. That’s right! Your name is Ray!”

Ray groaned. The Kerry’s writing sounded like Professor Oak remembering who the fuck you were in a town that had the population of 10. Despite the terrible start Ray found out that Kerry fit the build of an “average guy,” but with a little more cute added in. Kerry would get flustered easily whenever he verbally slipped up. At one point Kerry even admitted that he thought Ray was decent-looking. Kerry offered to go with Ray to retrieve their text books. Apparently, the college had a rental system that was built into their tuition.

The game described the sidewalks as filled with people moving into their respective dorms. Ray was focused on Kerry talking to him, when he bumped into another character.

Immediately the image showed on the screen. Another male. A rusty brunette with a scowl scrunched in his face. The young man was taller than Ray, and his eyes were a burning brown. The curls on his head tickled the freckles on his cheeks. He would be cute if he didn’t look like he was ready to punch both Ray and Kerry in the face.

“Hey! Watch where the fuck you’re going!” The man yelled.

“We’re sorry!” Kerry was quick to plead

The man was not amused, “Yeah? You’ll be sorry when I—”

“Michael.” Another voice interrupted. The voice was cold, and Michael’s image recoiled in surprise as a fourth character appeared on the screen. He was the tallest, giving him a commanding feel to him, even though he looked like a mess. His hair was fluttered, like it had gone unbrushed, his eyes were purple and sleepy, and a mustache was curled under his nose. Despite this messy look to his face, he was dressed in a suit jacket.

“Michael,” The older gentleman repeated, “I told you to watch your temper. I know you’re frustrated already with all the commotion, but you have to watch yourself. I’m doing you a favor by letting you stay in the dorms. Remember I can always pull you out at any moment.”

Michael’s eyes dropped. “Sorry, Geoff.”

Geoff turned to Ray and Kerry and smiled. There was something about that snake smile that Ray couldn’t trust. “I’m sorry about Michael’s behavior. He’s a little tense right now, but I promise you, my boy here is a proper lad.”

Lad? Who the hell says ‘lad’? Ray thought as he read Geoff’s text.

Geoff went on to wish Ray and Kerry a good first day of classes and who knows, maybe they’d have a class with his kid. Michael didn’t say another word.

The screen changed to that of a student store. Clothes with generic university type on one side, books on the other. The in-game Ray made note of the people packed inside the small store. Sardines, his bad writing said. Before Ray could get his books, he was interrupted by a strange noise followed by a thin body slamming into him and knocking him over completely.

Another new character appeared on the screen. A skinny boy with milk chocolate hair that rivaled Geoff’s in the mangled mane department. His eyes were a lime green and shone with surprise and embarrassment. His nose was also comically large.

“Oh God! Sorry ‘bout that!” The skinny boy squawked.

Another character showed up on the screen. This time, an exhausted muscular figure with torn sleeves. He had a strong jaw, and dark eyes that sparkled even though he looked 100% done with the skinny boy. “Gavin, you need to watch where you’re going! You can’t just flail about.”

“Yeah. Dan. I know. I know. I can’t help it.”

“Well, maybe when you gain your freshman fifteen, you won’t be able to defy gravity as much as you already do.”

The two began squawking at each other, yelling strange insults at each other and growing more animated until they both stopped suddenly and realized they were being watched by Ray and Kerry. Their faces burned with a blush.

“Uh…. whoops. Sorry about that. I’m Gavin.” He grinned.

Dan put an arm around Gavin and pointed a thumb at his chest, “I’m Dan, this dipshit’s friend.”

They excused themselves after saying they hoped to see the two of them around.

Ray and Kerry checked out their books and returned to their dorm. After shuffling things around, they decided that they should go back and find their classrooms. This prompted the first real choice option for Ray. He could either stay in the dorm and let Kerry go by himself, or go with Kerry. He had yet to meet the sixth person, and he was pretty sure that he was going to miss him if he chose the wrong option. With a heavy swallow, he chose to go with Kerry.

The screen cycled through various classrooms, describing each one, and eventually ended up at the top of a pit-style lecture hall. Rows of seats descended in an exaggerated perspective, making the classroom feel far deeper than it probably was. Ray’s character mentioned looking around and finding one lone person standing off to the side. Here, Ray was prompted to approach him or leave him be. Of course Ray wanted to bother him, so he did.

“Hello.” Ray said to the man.

A character appeared on the screen. This time it was a man wearing a ragged black hoodie. He had golden brown eyes, with dark circles underneath. The man look like he had never slept in the history of ever. His lips were a tad pouty, and his black hair reached for the ceiling.

The man said nothing, but the game emitted a ‘tch’ sound.

Both in-game and real life Ray were a little confused by the rude response. At least Michael had the decency to explode, what was this guys issue?

Ray tried again, “Are you checking out your classes as well, or are you waiting for someone.”

The character changed slightly, giving the character a more annoyed look. His eyes shifted away from looking at Ray. “I’m doing both.” the man all but grumbled.

At this point, real life Ray would have fucked off and never spoken to the man again. Unlike his character, who didn’t seem to understand expression and body language, poked the bear again. “Oh, well. I’m Ray, and I’m new.”

“Clearly.”

Luckily, in-game Ray understood the attitude of that response. He forced a smile and continued anyway because he was in too deep already. “What about yourself? Who are you?”

Those brown eyes looked back at Ray. “Joel.” he answered.

The text then explained that another person entered the lecture hall and called for Joel. Without so much as a goodbye, he left. Right after that, Ray went back to his dorm, and recapped each person he had met over the course of the day and what he thought of them. Kerry was a beam of sunshine, fun to have around, but Ray could expect getting tired out by him if he doesn’t calm down. Michael had some rough edges, but if he could get past the threats, there might be a decent person underneath. Geoff had Ray scared, because it seemed like he could tame a beast with stare. Gavin was a funny goof, and Dan seemed like a simple, but good friend. And then there was Joel. The mysterious, unreadable Joel. Thinking about how his classes were two days away, in game Ray fell asleep.

—

Real life Ray saved and shut off the game. He set down is Bita on his side table and relaxed into his bed. LMDM was a dating sim game for sure, and everything about it felt fucking predictable. Just by the introduction of the character, he knew already how the story was going to go, the good endings and the bad. The only one he was iffy about was Joel, but more than likely his story was about the man opening up to people after being betrayed at some point, and the good ending is him trusting you enough to confess his feelings, and the bad ending being that you betray him and he disappears. Forever, probably.

Despite knowing the destination, Ray figured that the game was probably worth going on the ride anyway.

Now, which character did he go for first?


End file.
